The autonomy will help in restructuring the syllabus and enhancing the content to match the international standards and current industry requirements. Apart from paving the way to contemporary curriculum, the autonomy will also aid in integrating and offering additional career courses with industry specific training, which in turn will bridge the gap between the curriculum and future demands of the outside world.
Owing to high academic standard, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has conferred autonomy upon BNM Institute of Technology (BNMIT) for a period of 10 years (2021-22 to 2030-31). The institute received an official communication recently from VTU, confirming the status.
As an autonomous educational institute, BNMIT will now be able to design its own course curriculum by integrating knowledge across various branches and adhering to the needs of the industry. The institute will also be able to conduct examinations in novel ways to test the intrinsic abilities of its especially trained students.
BNMIT has always given importance to the holistic development of students, whereby, along with academic exposure, they are given opportunities to take up extra- and co-curricular activities with the same intensity. ‘The institute has set its goal to produce highly skilled, technically competent, and socially concerned manpower for the country and the autonomy will help in achieving its goals elaborately’, said Sri Narayan Rao Maanay, Secretary, BNM Educational Institutions.
Following the status, the institute aspires to build a continuously evolving curriculum to match the international standards by incorporating and integrating the current and future demands of the industry.
‘With the freedom to offer courses, programs, and degrees in cutting edge technology, BNMIT as an autonomous institution, will now be able to pave the way for its students to pursue their dreams’, said Dr. S. Sadagopan, Adviser, BNMIT.
With the newly attained status, the students at BNMIT can now pursue live and industry relevant projects along with their academics. Moreover, the autonomy will also open the gates to interactions with external experts from the industry, other leading institutes like IITs, NITs, and various online platforms from across the globe.
‘With courses integrated across branches, especially with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI & ML), apart from various add on skills, sky is the limit for the students to pursue their ambitions at BNMIT. As a natural corollary, the job opportunities and pay packages in organized industry as well as in start-ups would increase manifold’, added Dr. Sadagopan.
BNMIT is looking forward to developing continuous interactions with industry experts and research personnel. ‘The Technical and soft skills will be imparted to the students as a part of the curriculum itself. This will ensure technically superior, highly competent, and globally acclaimed professionals. The academic flexibility incorporated in the delivery of the curriculum will encourage students to be multi-disciplinary’, said Prof. T. J. Ramamurthy, Director, BNMIT.
The industry relevant curriculum will also help in creating exposure to all the advances in the field. ‘The right exposure to students of all specializations in Data analytics and AI & ML would be the highlight of this contemporary curriculum. Several new programs in Data Science & Cloud Computing will be started subsequently. The institute would also like to offer several certificate courses in Digital marketing, Data analytics, Block chain, UI & UX, AI & ML, High speed & Low Power VLSI, EV Technology, and many more. BNMIT aims at getting administrative autonomy by becoming a full-fledged multi-disciplinary university’, said Dr. S. Y. Kulkarni, Additional Director, BNMIT.
Currently, around 2500 students seek education in BNMIT. The Institute has multiple Undergraduate (UG), Postgraduate (PG), and Research programs on offer. ‘We offer UG courses in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Computer Science & Engineering, Electronics & Communication Engineering, Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Information Science & Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Under PG programs, we have Master of Business Administration (MBA), Computer Science & Engineering (M.Tech.), and VLSI Design & Embedded Systems (M.Tech.),’ informed Dr. Krishnamurthy G. N., Principal, BNMIT
Owing to its student centric and research-oriented approach towards teaching and skill development, BNMIT was recently ranked 186 by National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). The ranking scheme also included all IITs, NITs, and universities from all over India. ‘The institute has also been accredited with ‘A’ Grade by NAAC and all UG branches are accredited by NBA for academic years 2018-2019 to 2020-2021. BNMIT is also certified by QS IGuage for Excellence in Digital Education’, said Prof. Ishwar Maanay, Dean, BNMIT.
Apart from an excellent academic environment, the institute also offers various opportunities to its students to relieve the pressure of academics through multitude of on-campus clubs and activities. The autonomy status will give more impetus in making its students a good human being, a world citizen, and a matter of pride for the country.